An eclectic mix this week as new streaming release list is headlined by trippy sci-fi Sunny, steamy romcom Anyone but You, and action blockbuster The Beekeeper, while Boy Kills World makes its VOD debut.
SERIES
Sunny S1
10 July 2024 – Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has stealthily become the place for highly polished, thought-provoking sci-fi with the likes of Severance, Silo, For All Mankind, and more. And now we can add another that illustrious list: Sunny. Starring and exec produced by the always great Rashida Jones, this 10-episode miniseries is adapted Collin O’Sullivan’s 2018 novel The Dark Manual. Jones plays Suzie Sakamoto, an American woman living in Kyoto with her Japanese husband and son. When her family suddenly disappear in a mysterious plane crash, Suzie’s life unravels. Luckily for her though, Sunny is there. A cutting domestic robot secretly designed by her husband for his clandestine company, Sunny is there to console and care for Suzie. But there’s way more to Sunny than just caring for a grieving wife and mother, and together the unlikely duo unearths a dangerous plot.
The Anarchists S1
10 July 2024 – Showmax
In 2015, an eclectic group of dreamers, fugitives, and crypto-enthusiasts, all sharing the same ideals of unfettered personal freedom from the government, gathered in Acapulco, Mexico. “Anarchapulco” was supposed to be the start of an annual gathering of like-minded anarchists, together conducting a hopeful experiment to live out a radical new way of life. It would be fun. It would be informative. It had the Wu-Tang Clan. And then the murder happened. Co-produced by HBO and Blumhouse Productions and unfolding over six years, this six-part documentary series chronicles the strange and deadly series of events that began with that impulsive one-off gathering and led to bloodshed, conspiracy, bomb threats, and more.
MOVIES
Brats
5 July 2024 – Disney+
Their ensemble work on-screen in the likes of The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire informed an entire generation and left an indelible mark on pop culture. The Brat Pack. That was the nickname coined for 1980s breakout actors Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and Andrew McCarthy. And it was a nickname that they would come to… despise? In this feature documentary directed by McCarthy himself, the actor-turned-filmmakers seeks out his fellow “Brat Pack” alumni to look back on that iconic period in their lives, and all the conflicting emotions that came from being launched into superstardom under this collective name, and how they dealt with the impact they had on the lives of the young audience that proverbially worshipped them.
Anyone But You
8 July 2024 – Netflix
Two of the biggest breakout stars in Hollywood lately has to be Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. They both also happen to be really good-looking people. So, of course they would be perfect to star in a steamy romcom together! Anyone But You stars the pair as Ben and Bea, a couple who immediately hit it off, but then split apart very un-amicably. But when they meet up again by coincidence at a destination wedding in Australia six months later, the very not-in-love pair decide to pretend to be a couple again for their own personal gains with past romantic exploit. Hilarity ensues. And also, some spicy romance. Anyone but You received mixed reviews from critics when it released in cinemas earlier this year, but audiences lapped it up, making it officially “the biggest romcom at the global box office since 2016”.
The Beekeeper
8 July 2024 – Showmax
What seemed destined to be nothing more than a meme about a shared cinematic universe in which Jason Statham just pretends to do different jobs (see: The Transporter, The Mechanic), The Beekeeper instead ended up being 2024’s first box office success story. Directed by David Ayer (Fury, The Suicide Squad), this action thriller stars Statham as Adam Clay, a mild-mannered beekeeper living on the farm of retired school teacher Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad). When Eloise is driven to suicide though after being scammed online out of her entire life savings and the charity fund she manages, Adam decides that her anonymous scammers and the powerful, high-ranking conspiracy that supports them, need to be paid a lesson. Luckily for him, he’s just the man to do it as “beekeeper” is actually the codename he once had as a special highly-trained government operative whose job it was to be a one-man army against anybody or anything that “upsets the hive” of society. The Beekeeper is very much a movie that would have been right at home on eTV’s Friday Action Night, so don’t try to think too hard in this one and just sit back to enjoy Jason Statham putting the hurt on bad people.
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
Boy Kills World
Purchase: Apple TV – R170
Rental: Apple TV – R45
And speaking of hurting bad people… Boy Kills World is the very blood-spattered dystopian action film that stars Bill Skarsgård as the titular Boy, a young man left deaf and mute when he was injured while his mother and sister were viciously killed. With the voice of a video game character (the great H. John Benjamin of Archer fame) narrating the thoughts in his head, Boy has spent his life turning himself into a human weapon to get revenge on the Van Koys, the de facto ruling family in a totalitarian city and his loved ones’ killers. As I mentioned in my 7.5/10 review, Boy Kills World is a wild, “Looney Tunes on acid”, martial arts trip of a movie. It doesn’t always hit the mark, but it’s super fun when it does. And it was also shot right here in Cape Town and was the biggest budgeted local production ever. Unfortunately, it came nowhere close to making that money back as it bombed badly at the box office, earning only a measly $3.2 million worldwide. Now it’s on VOD and you can maybe help that number tick up slightly by renting it.
Eileen
Purchase: Apple TV – R170
Rental: Apple TV – R45
Another week, another female-led two-hander period piece psychological thriller starring Anne Hathaway (Phew! What a mouthful!) making it’s VOD debut. Last week it was Mothers’ Instinct with Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, and now the actress is starring opposite Jojo Rabbit’s Thomasin McKenzie in Eileen. Adapted by screenwriter Ottessa Moshfegh from her own award-winning 2015 novel, the film is set in 1960s America and follows two women working at a juvenile detention facility in Massachusetts. Eileen Dunlop (McKenzie) is a social outcast loner living with her alcoholic father, who frequently has suicidal tendencies. When new psychologist Rebecca Saint John (Hathaway) joins the staff at the facility, Eileen is drawn to the polished and glamorous Rebecca. And much to the younger woman’s surprise, a friendship quickly develops. But just as Eileen’s life finally starts looking up, their situation takes a dark and twisted turn.